Phonographic record changing apparatus



Aug. 21, 1951 o. WAHTERA ET AL PHONOGRAPHIC RECORD CHANGING APPARATUS 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 8, 1946 i iw INVENTORS Olav? Wahtem MM ATTORNEY A 1951 o. WAHTERA ETAL 2,565,413

PHONOGRAPHIC RECORD CHANGING APPARATUS Filed June 8, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet2 mm .1 mm m 4 a L m -t! m H .VNC m 7 .1 2/ f Patented Aug. 21 I951"PHONO GRAPHIC RECORD CHANGING APPARATUS Olavi Wahtera, Peabody, andKenneth R. Scribner, Ipswich, Mass, assignors to Sylvania. ElectricProducts Inc., Salem, Mass., a corporation of ll iassachusettsApplication June 8, 1946, Serial No. 675,468

it Claims; (CL 27 110)' Thisinventlon relates to a mechanism for feedingdisc phonograph records from a prearranged group into playing positionupon ,a driven turn ltable and 4's directed, Part cularly to suchmechanism situated upon and functioning through a central supportingspindle. v p

It is a generalpbject ol the invention to prof'vide a record changer ofhigh operating efficiency. A Iurther ob'ject of the invention is toprovide 'arecord'changr which issimple in construction.

and positive in action.

A, further objectpt the invention is to provide a record changer whichmanipulates the records without engaging the record groove at any timethus completely. avoiding damage to the record even after'manyplayingsthereof. I

7 Other objects and features will more fully appear from the followingdescription and will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

' The invention is' herein adapted to be applied to a record changermechanism in combination withfa motor' driven phonograph turntablehaving a pickup armprovided with a suitable amplifier' and loudspeakerto reproduce the sound track impressed upon the record.

However thef 'invention maybe applied to any type of phonograph.

' 1 The records it is desired to play are stacked in the "desired. orderby threading them upon a specially constructed spindle which supportsthem above and in alignment with the axis of the turn- ,table. Thespindle is provided with retractable latchlike holding means projectingfrom the spindle andfengaging the lower face of the bottom record, ofthe'stack thus supporting'all of the records.

Directlyabove the latchlike holding means is an additional recordholding means arranged frictionally to grip at least one of. the recordsnext above'the bottom record. The friction gripping' means comprises ashort section of expandable material on the spindle normally havingsubstantially the same diameter as the spindle. To actuate thefriction'gripping means the expandable material is compressed endwisethus to cause it to expand laterally into contact with the wall of therecord aperture.

'Any suitable means may beemployed to actuate. andfcoordinate theoperation of the two record holdin'g means. The expandable holding meansmay be actuated by rendering the upper portion ottheflspindle movabledownward against the expandable material. The necessary motion to obtainthisiexpans'ion may be derived from a camjdevice"connected to a rodlikeextensionof the upper spindle section while the latchhold- 'ing devicemay be projected and retracted by means of a member rotatable within thespindle.

To provide a better understanding of the invention a particularembodiment thereof will now be described and is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the apparatus. o

Figure 2 is a partial plan sectional view of the mechanism employed to.actuate the record manipulating devices.

7 Figures 3 and 4 are enlarged sectional views of the record holdingspindle...

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 55 Figure 3.

Figured is a cross section taken on line 6-6 Figure 4.

Figure 7 is a cross section on line 1-1 Figure 3.

The mechanism of the present invention is adapted to be mounted upon thechassis I of an electrically operated phonograph but may be applied toany type of phonograph reproducing apparatus. The chassis. l is providedwith a bearing supporting cup 2 within which is located the bearingassembly for the record turntable 3. 'Any suitable bearing may be used.As shown the turntable is provided with a hub portion 4 having arelatively large axial bore within which is received a fixed hollowbearing stud 5 rigidly secured to the cup 2 and upon which the turntablehas its bearing. Desirably an anti-friction bearing 6 is insertedbetween the bottom face of the hub 41 and the bottom of the cup 2. Thisbearing absorbs the weight of the turntable and that of the recordsplayed.

A hollow record holding spindle 1.. extends upwardly to receive therecords and down- ..wardly axially through the stud 5.. The outer shellof the spindle is fixed against rotation and may be arranged to have alimited amount of vertical movement which may be utilized to pro- I videautomatic starting and stopping of the turntable driving motor 8 whenrecords are placed on the spindle and removed therefrom. This automaticmotor control is not shown since it forms no part of the presentinvention. The

motor 8 is provided with suitable speed reducing means which in turnengages the rim of the turntable 3. v

The spindle l is provided at its upper end with means for supporting astack of records 9 in a position sufliciently elevated above theturntable 3 to permit a record pick up. arm, not shown, to

Pl a r e n t e urn a le Two independently controllable record holdingmeans are provided on the spindle which when actuated in propercoordination feed one record at a time into playing position. While aparticular means is shown herein for this purpose any suitable means maybe employed which is within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

One or more latchlike record holding members J are provided andarranged. to be extended from and retracted within the spindle. Whenextended the members ID act to support the stack of records when norecord is being delivered to the turntable as shown in Figures 1, 3 andof the drawings.

Above the members l8 a friction record holding device is located inposition to engage one or more of the records next above the bottomrecord. The friction gripping means H is made of flexible expandablematerial and is so constructed and arranged as to constitute a shortsection of the spindle and has a diameter substantially the same as thatof the spindle. Normally therefore the records when placed upon thespindle readily pass over the section I l and are held by the membersID.

The expandable gripping member Il may be made of rubber or otherflexible material and means are provided to expand the material intocontact with the wall of the record apertures l2 thus to grip therecords.

A desirable means for expanding the member I l is to make the upperportion l3 of the spindle axially movable with respect to the otherportion of the spindle and to provide a shoulder I4 on the portion [3 toengage the upper face of the member I I and a shoulder [5 on the lowerportion of the spindle to engage the lower face of the member H. Bymoving the shoulder l4 against the rubber II it is expanded to grip therecord or records.

While in the embodiment of the invention shown the upper member l3 movesdown, any means may be employed however to cause the shoulders l4 and IEto expand the member [I laterally. The member [3 is provided with adepending actuator rod l6 secured thereto or integral therewith. The rodl6 desirably extends axially through the spindle 1 and through thebearing stud 5 and projects a substantial distance below the bearingcup.

The record holding latch members it may be projected and retracted inany suitable manner. As herein shown the latch members Ill are actuatedby a sleeve member I? rotatable within the outer shell 18 of the spindleand through which the rod l6 extends. downward below the bearing cup andis actuated by means to be described.

The upper end of the sleeve ll is cut away to form three recesses whichform three chambers 19 within the shell as shown in Figures 5 and 6. Thelatch members ID are received within the chambers 19 when retracted andare projected through vertical slots 28 in the shell l8 into holdingposition. The latches l6: themselves are desirably made in the form ofright angled triangles with their apexes at the bottom. The top andbottom extremities of the latches are provided with trunnions 2|extending into journals in the sleeve IT to permit the latches to pivoton a vertical axis and to provide the necessary connection to permit thelatches to be manipulated by the sleeve l'l.

Desirably one edge of the apertures 20 is extended inward to form lip22. The lips act The sleeve I! also extends to direct the latchesoutward when they are projected into record holding position as shown inFigure 5. To retract the latches the sleeve H is rotated through aportion of a revolution until the latches are drawn into their chambers19. The bottom record 23 of' the stack 9 rests upon the upper edge 24 ofthe latches In. The top edge 24 is situated below the bottom edge of the'member H the thickness of a record.

Any suitable means may be employed to actuate the member H and thelatches It] to release a single record from the bottom of the stack. Asatisfactory mechanism for this purpose is shown herein. The lower endof the sleeve H has secured thereto an operating lever 25. The lever isprovided with a stop arm 26 which is normally held against a fixed stop21, secured to the chassis I, by a spring 28. When the arm 26 is againstits stop the latch members ID are in extended position as shown inFigure 5. p

Below and in engagement'with the lever 25 an upper cam member 289: isrotatively mounted upon the rod l6 and is provided uponits lower facewith a cam track 29. The cam track 29 coacts with another cam track 30upon a nonrotatable cam member 3| to provide downward movement of therod 16 and member IS. The member 3! has a stop arm 32 projecting into avertical slot 33 in the fixed stop 21. The member 3| is held againstrotation therefore but may move vertically along the rod IS. The lowerend of the rod I6 is provided with screw threads upon which is receiveda nut 34 which acts to support a spring seat 35 upon which is seated thelower end of a spring 36 the upper end of which bears against the member3|.

Any desired means may be provided for rotating the cam member 2830suchas by providing gear teeth 3'! upon its periphery which mesh withthe teeth upon a segmental lever 38 fulcrumed upon a rigid plate 39 uponwhich is rotatably mounted an operating cam 40. The outer end of thelever 38 is provided with a cam follower pin 4! received in a cam groove42 on the bottom of the cam 40. The groove 42 is so designed that thetoothed portion of the lever will rotate the member 28w a predeterminedrequired amount. The member 28m is provided with a projection 43extending upward from its top face into the plane of the lever 25. Thelever 25 is provided with a driving shoulder M against which theprojection 43 engages to. drive the lever which in turn rotates thesleeve l! to retractthe latches ID.

The operating cam constitutes an element which functions in the generaloperation of a complete apparatus for playing records and certain phasesof its operation, with which the present invention is not concerned, arenot shown or described. However, the cam track 42 is designed to causeactuation of the record feeding mechanism in correct timed relation tothe other functions in the complete cycle of record playing and recordchanging.

The operation of the device is as follows. One or more records areplaced upon the spindle T and the turntable is started rotating eitherautomatically or otherwise through power derived from the motor 8. Whenit is desired to start playing a record one of the records in the stack9 must be fed to the turntable. To accomplish this the cam 46 is startedrotating either manually or automatically. Rotation of the cam 40 causesthe lever 38 to rotate upon its fulcrum and thus rotate the cam member28:1: in a clock- Wise direction. The motion of the member 280:

causes the cam track 29 to coact with the cam track 30 to pull down onthe rod l6 through the medium of the spring 36 and the spring seat 35.Thus the tension of the spring 36 is impressed upon the expandablemember ll causing it to grip and hold the record next above the bottomrecord 23. In so doing all of the records above the bottom record areheld.

The projection 43 on the cam member 28x is so situated with respect tothe cam tracks that a predetermined travel of the cam members takesplace before the projection 43 .engages the shoulder 44 on the arm 25.When the projection strikes the shoulder the arm is actuated, which inturn, retracts the latch members H which release the record 23. Therecord then drops into playing position upon the turntable.

Further travel of the cam 40 causes return movement of the lever 38 andreturn movement of member 2850. I'he spring 28 then acts to project thelatch members In into holding position and subsequently the pressure onthe member II is released thereby permitting the stack of records tomove down onto the latches H]. To feed the next record the cycle ofoperation is repeated.

The lower cam member 3| being free to move axially along the rod 16 maycontinue its downward motion, induced by the interaction of the camtracks 29 and 30, after the member H has expanded into contact with thewall of the aperture in the record. The further movement of the member3| acts to compress the spring 36.

To remove the pile of records after they have all been played and areresting upon the turntable, the pile is lifted and when they engage theangularly disposed edge 45 of the latches ID the latches are forced intoretracted position thus permitting the records to be removed from thespindle.

We claim:

1. In a record changer for disc records having a driven turntable ahollow fixed main spindle at the axis of said turntable, said spindleincluding a plurality of slots at the record-support level, a pluralityof latchlike record supports associated with said spindle and movablethrough said slots, a latch operating spindle rotatably mounted in saidmain spindle and upon which said latches are pivoted on axes parallel tothe axis of said spindle, means to project and retract said latches byrotation of said rotatable spindle thereby to support or release recordsthreaded on said spindle.

2. A record changer for disc recordshaving the elements defined in claim1 together with means for holding all but the bottom one of a stack ofrecords on the spindle while the latchlike supports are releasing thebottom record into playing position.

3. In a record changer for disc records, a driven turntable, a fixedhollow main spindle at the axis of said turntable upon which a stack ofrecords are held in non-playing position, a plurality of latchesprojectable through the wall of said main spindle acting to support thestack of records, a latch control spindle rotatable in said main spindlepositively connected to and operable by rotation thereof to extend orretract said latches, an axially moveable upper section on said mainspindle having an actuating rod extending downward axially through saidlatch operating spindle, an expandable spindle section between the upperand lower portions of said main spindle for holding, when expanded, allbut the bottom record of the stack, and actuating means including timingadjustment for operating said latches and expanding spindle section tofeed one record at a time into playing position.

OLAVI WAHTERA. KENNETH R. SCRIBNER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,287,098 Habegger June 23, 1942FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 55,603 Netherlands Nov. 15, 1943822,026 France Sept. 6, 1937 884,356 France Aug. 11, 1943

